We're all going on a summer holiday...

Finally back in London after a massive summer of work. OK, and a little fun as well. Here are some of the places I worked this summer:

It all started with a week in beautiful, sunny Portugal


Followed closely by a month on Sea Island in Georgia




Next stop was Washington DC



Back to London in time to enjoy a glorious sunny day in Green Park with friends


Before jumping on the Eurostar for a few days in Paris





So back to routine this week. The kids are back at school (hooray!!) and there is no more travel on the horizon...until at least October!

And summer is over, the days are getting shorter and the tan built up over 6 fantastic weeks in the sunshine is beginning to fade. Autumn is here and it's time to get out the warmer clothes. Seems a crime almost...

Highlights of my second year in London

 

Hampstead Heath

This week, I've been on holidays and London has certainly turned on the sunshine for the occasion. I thought I'd make the most of the weather and finally make a trip to "The Heath" as Hampstead Heath is known to the locals (am I a local now, after 6 months??). I walked from Hampstead Heath Overground Station to Kenwood House at the top of The Heath, famous for featuring in Notting Hill, one of my all time favourite movies.





I spent a couple of hours lazing in the sun on the grass in front of Kenwood House, followed by ice cream and a walk back through Hampstead Heath to Gospel Oak Station. A perfect day.

Sorry, Primrose Hill, but I think I've found my new favourite place in London!

I come from a land down under

My first day in Brisbane and the sun is out. The view from the deck...look at all those palm trees!


Christmas lights on Christmas Eve


Christmas Dinner...aah, seafood!


Then the rains came...


...but the sun came back, on my last day (typical!). Who knows when I'll see another blue sky like this!

The Week That Was

I know I haven't been around for a while but I've been a little busy. Here's some pics from what I've been up to this week:


Last week, I took the kids back to Ham House, somewhere I haven't been since I first arrived. We had a great day exploring the gardens.


On Monday, I had my little cousin who's two with us so we all headed into Kensington Gardens and The Princess Diana Memorial Playground. What an awesome place! It was packed to the rafters with kids, but the sun was out, so that made everything OK!


Wednesday, we headed to Bushy Park for a picnic, clown show and a play on the huge playground there. Bushy Park is a lovely place and I don't know why I waited so long to get there!


And yesterday, I took the kids into the city for a Great Bus Adventure (as they called it!), starting with the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (which turned out to not be on that day!), then on the no. 11 bus to Trafalgar Square where we then hopped on an old Routemaster bus, the no. 15, to The Tower of London. We found a little patch of green and a playground to have lunch at and then headed home on the train.

Heat Wave

The weather has been really hot here this week and the next few days are set to be more of the same, and one thing I have noticed is how much the Brits really do talk about the weather.

For me, this weather is just a regular Queensland early summer's day (not even that hot yet!), and while I understand that it is such a novelty for the UK to be so warm, it still surpised me the amount of conversation about the heat the last couple of days.

The one thing that I must remember that you can't escape into a shop to get away from the heat. Most of the shops aren't air conditioned. I'm sure they are very warm in winter, but that doesn't help me now!

Also this week, I have noticed for the first time the cars in the car park at school pick up. You know you're really in another world when the cars in the car park comprise of a Bentley, Jag and nothing less common than a BMW. Not a Vauxhall in sight!

This is also the last week of school before the summer holidays, which I am looking forward to, in some ways. My hours should increase and my pay along with it, which will be very nice indeed. Lots of activities to plan - trips to the coast, pantomimes, picnics in the park...the stress of work!

Last Sunday I went to London and spent eleven hours in the city...five of those were spent on public transport. My first bus ride was diverted, then terminated halfway to our destination. We all got off the bus and waited for 15 minutes, before getting back on the same bus (which hadn't moved from the spot!) and finished the journey. The first tube ride from Ealing Broadway went off without a hitch and then I cruised along the Thames to Greenwich. After Greenwich, the tube and bus ride home took two hours. The District line was down for works and after taking the wrong line (entirely my fault!), I managed to catch the Central Line back to Ealing Broadway and then home...only for the bus ride home to also be diverted!

Welcome to London!

Ahh...London

So at last I am in London and having been here for just over one week now, I have to say that I am LOVING it!

Last Saturday, I arrived at London Heathrow after a pretty good flight from Abu Dhabi on which I managed to sleep, yet again. Kirstie and I had been joking before our flights about how we both didn't get upgraded to Business Class. Kirstie said she would love to have a seat in the emergency row for the extra leg room and I said I don't like that row because I become obsessed with the big lever that if you just pulled it down, the door would fly open (I'm sure it's more involved than that!). So, guess who got a seat in the emergency row? Yep. That would be me! Luckily, I had the aisle seat so any overwhelming need to pull the giant lever would have to be done by my fellow passenger in the window seat and she looked like the responsible type.

After making my way through Heathrow to Customs and having to fill in the arrival card as I was in the line (turns out, I was fast asleep when they gave them out on the plane), I made it through, bag collected and unchecked through to the arrivals hall.

Now, if you remember, I had secured my new job before I arrived in the UK and had never actually met the family I would be working for. It's a very strange feeling, arriving in a new place, and trying to look for someone you've never met, so times that feeling by about 100 when the place you're in is London Heathrow!

Luckily I found her, thanks to my cousin who also had come to the airport to meet me, which was a huge surprise. I haven't seen him for about 7 years.

Anyway, drove back to their (and my new) house and settled in. Went off to my cousin's house for an Aussie BBQ on Saturday afternoon, then jetlag set in and came home to crash.

This week, I have done a mixture of work, shopping and sightseeing. Tuesday was my first trip into London to sort out my bank account (which, if you are thinking of coming over here, definitely buy a bank account package before you leave Australia. It will make your life so much easier. For a bit of a plug, I went with 1st Contact and set up my account with Barclays. Vojtek at Barclays Bank on Edgeware Road was brilliant!) and to do a bit of shopping. I walked from Covent Garden, along Oxford Road to Edgeware Road. This day was a bit cold and wet. Since then, the weather has been awesome. Today, I went into London for church and then wandered through Soho and along South Bank and the skies were blue all day.






It felt good to wander around London today, knowing that I wasn't just a tourist here for a week or passing through, but that I was now living here.

I have had to drive a 4WD on London streets for the school run, which is hard to get used to. I have only ever driven small cars on streets generally twice as wide as the ones here. But I'm getting there. The buses and the tube are so easy to get around on that I don't need to drive much at all.

And I am loving being a nanny.

Why do I do it?

OK, I know most people have in their head the idea that all Aussies are tanned. Well, this is so not me!

I am "lucky" enough to have that pale English complexion - you know, the kind that looks like I haven't seen the sun in years.

I spent the day at Noosa today, which is a gorgeous town up on the Sunshine Coast, about 2 hours drive north of Brisbane. In preparation for the day, I remembered to slip, slop, slap (actually, I couldn't find my hat so I just slipped and slopped!). Once we parked the car halfway up a mountain and walked to find our friends at the far end of the beach, I was already burnt!

I got into the shade as soon as I could, but the damage was already done. It was too late for me!

Being the pale creature I am, I tend to burn, peel and then go white again, and burn in patches.

So, now I'm at home, wishing I had some aloe vera gel and looking at my skin that resembles a red and white patchwork quilt.

Why do I do it? Because I'm Australian...and living under some delusion that one day I will live up to the stereotype!